Needed to debate CAG findings: PM

New Delhi, Sep 7 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday said there was “great respect” for India’s official auditor but its findings have to be discussed in parliament.

“We have great respect for the institution of the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) and we do respect this institution. We must be willing to debate its finding in the Publics Accounts Committee and even on the floor of the parliament which we have always been willing,” Manmohan Singh said outside parliament.

He was referring to the CAG report on coal block allocations that slammed the government for not auctioning the blocks and causing a presumptive loss of Rs.1.86 lakh crore ($37 billion) to the union exchequer.

The opposition BJP, which has not allowed parliament to function for the past two weeks, kept on its demand for the prime minister’s resignation over the allocations.

The prime minister, however, slammed the BJP.

“The opposition chose not to take advantage of the settled institutional practices dealing with the reports of the CAG and insisted on disrupting the parliament,” he told reporters.

“This is negation of democracy. If this thought process is allowed to gain momentum that will be a grave violations of the norms of the parliamentary democracy.

“India is faced with many problems. There are problems of rising communal tensions; there are problems of regional and ethnic tensions. There are problems of terrorism and there are problems of Naxalism,” he said.

“Parliament should have debated on these issues and parliament was not allowed to discuss these very important issues before the country,” he said.

The prime minister also said that “the world as a whole is faced with serious economic difficulties grappling with recession and we are trying to prevent India getting affected by what is happening in the outside world.”

“Parliament should have discussed these issues what is our economic strategy to deal with these global tensions and development.

“Parliament was not allowed to do any of these things. The result is parliament, which is the forum where we articulate our people’s felt need and grudges, was totally paralysed,” the prime minister said.